I run Robbp Media, a social media marketing agency in Los Angeles, and I have been doing this work since 2012. When Posh Peanut, a kids and baby apparel brand, scaled to $41M in revenue, our social, creator and paid work was underneath it. Day to day that engagement was a founder without a marketing leader in the building who needed someone to own the plan, brief the people doing the work, and answer for the numbers every week. That is a fractional marketing director, a role I have filled for most of my career without always calling it that. This page is for the owner searching for a fractional marketing director in Los Angeles who wants to know what one does, whether they need one, and what it costs.
What a fractional marketing director does
A fractional marketing director runs your marketing the way a full time marketing director or CMO would, for a set number of days a month instead of a salary. You get the strategy, the plan, the management of freelancers and agencies, the budget decisions and the weekly reporting from one person who is accountable for the result. You do not pay for a full time seat, a benefits package or six months of learning the business before anything happens.
In practice the job breaks into three pieces. The first is deciding what to do at all. Most brands I meet are doing a bit of everything, posting on four platforms, running ads nobody reads properly, paying for an email tool they never open, and wondering why nothing compounds. The first job is to cut that down to the two or three things that will move revenue and write them into a ninety day plan with numbers attached.
The second is running the people. A brand doing a few million a year usually has a designer, maybe a video editor, an ads freelancer, and someone junior posting to social. None of them have a brief, a cadence or anyone checking the work against a goal. I write the briefs, set the cadence, review the output and replace people who are not working. Where you have gaps I bring my own team, which is how the Posh Peanut work ran.
The third is the money. Ad spend, creator fees, tools and agency retainers sit on one sheet, and every week you see what went out and what came back. A Beverly Hills medical client returned 1,233% ROAS on paid social we built and managed, and Dead Soxy went from 2.23x to 4.64x after we rebuilt the creative and the audiences. Those numbers exist because someone read the account every week and changed things.
Who it suits
It suits brands that are too small for a full time CMO and too big to keep winging it. If you are doing between a few hundred thousand and a few million a year, you probably cannot justify a six figure marketing hire and the team underneath them, but you have outgrown the founder running marketing from their phone between everything else. That gap is where a fractional director fits.
It suits founders who want one accountable person rather than a collection of vendors. Agencies are good at the thing they sell and rarely good at telling you it is not what you need this quarter. A director sits on your side and makes that call.
It suits medical practices, DTC and ecommerce brands, pet and kids brands and nonprofits, because those are where I have the deepest record. Dr. Zoumalan, a facial plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, went from 6,000 Instagram followers to 109,000 with organic content only. Dr. Andrew Brunswick grew from 9,590 to 115,000. Bil-Jac on the pet side and Posh Peanut on the kids side both leaned on creator content, and a JAM Paper UGC campaign pulled 180,000 views. I founded a men's wellness nonprofit myself, so I know what a small team with a real mission needs.
It does not suit a brand that wants a consultant who sends a deck and disappears. I build things. If the plan says you need a landing page by Friday, I am in the design file and the page is live by Friday.
Why me
I have a BA Honours in Graphic Design and thirteen years of full stack marketing behind me, which means I have personally done every job I now direct. Graphic design in Adobe Creative Suite. Video editing in Adobe Premiere Pro. Web design and build. Organic social strategy and content. UGC and influencer management from sourcing to usage rights. Media buying on Meta, Instagram and TikTok. Funnel and automation work in GoHighLevel and ManyChat. When I brief an editor I know what a good cut costs in hours, and when I review an ad account I know what should have changed last week.
The broader track record includes Nike and Microsoft, along with Cobalt Stages, Calculated Industries and Project Ropa. The big names taught me the standard a global brand holds its creative to. The smaller ones taught me how to get that standard out of a team of four and a budget that has to earn its keep every month. A fractional marketing director needs both.
Most marketing directors have run strategy. Fewer have run paid social at scale with a ROAS target they had to hit. Our paid social agency page covers that side in detail, and it matters because the fastest way a director proves their worth is by making the ad account pay for the retainer.
How an engagement runs
It starts with a call. I ask what you sell, what a customer is worth to you, who is doing marketing today and what has not worked. Then I audit the site, the channels, the ad accounts, the content, the tools you pay for and the people doing the work, and come back with a written read on where the money is leaking and what I would do first.
From there we agree a ninety day plan with a handful of numbers on it: revenue from paid, growth on the channels that matter, leads or bookings from the site. The plan names who does what, what it costs, and what you should see by day thirty, sixty and ninety.
Then I run it. I am in your business a set number of days a month. I run the weekly marketing meeting, brief and manage the team, read the numbers, and send you a weekly report that reads like a text from a friend rather than a dashboard. You talk to me, not an account manager, and my team for design, video editing and creator outreach fills the gaps.
After the first ninety days everything is month to month. If the numbers are not moving you should not be locked in. Our social media marketing agency page explains the execution side if you want the full picture of what my team can take on.
What it costs
A fractional marketing director engagement is a monthly retainer, and I quote it after the first call. The figure depends on how many days a month you need, whether I am managing an existing team or bringing mine, whether paid social and creator programs are in scope, and how much build work the plan requires. Two days a month of oversight costs less than running your whole marketing function. I would rather quote your actual workload than publish a tier that fits nobody.
Where paid social is in scope, that part runs as a management fee on top of your ad spend with a ROAS target agreed before anything goes live. UGC is priced per campaign or as an ongoing creator program. Our SEO and AEO tool is a separate flat $199 a month if you want search and AI visibility handled too. Everything is month to month after the first ninety days.
Questions people ask
What is a fractional marketing director?
A senior marketing leader who runs your strategy, team, budget and reporting for a set number of days a month rather than as a full time hire. You get the accountability of a marketing director or CMO without the salary, and someone who has done the work themselves rather than only managed it.
How is this different from hiring an agency?
An agency sells a service and delivers it. A fractional director sits on your side, decides which services you actually need, hires and manages whoever delivers them, and answers for the overall number. I can bring my own team where you have gaps, but the plan comes first and the vendors serve it.
How many days a month do I get?
It depends on the plan. Some brands need two days a month of strategy, oversight and a weekly meeting. Others need me in the business most of the week during a launch. We agree the days on the first call and the retainer reflects that, and we can change it as the business changes.
What does a fractional marketing director cost?
It is a monthly retainer quoted after one call, based on the days a month, the scope and whether my team is doing the execution. Paid social carries a management fee on top of ad spend. Everything is month to month after the first ninety days so the results have to keep earning it.
Do you only work with Los Angeles brands?
No. I am based in Los Angeles and work with brands here and in Orange County in person, but the role runs well remotely and I have clients across the US. Weekly meetings, briefs, reporting and the ad accounts all live online, so where you are matters less than whether the fit is right.
Let's talk
If you have outgrown doing marketing between everything else but are not ready for a full time CMO, email me at info@robbp.com or book a call through the contact page. Tell me what you sell, roughly where revenue is, and who is doing marketing today, and I will come back with an honest read on whether a fractional marketing director is the right move and what it would cost.